This is the "cool" way to patch ripped jeans

Tutorial Here I didn't embroider a thing. I did everything with my machine.

Use up the Halloween Candy - Get it gone!

So, there have been more days than one, that I've totally over done it with the sickening amount of Halloween candy that's left in my house. We went up one side of our street and back down the other. The kids didn't come home with a whole lot, it's what we had left in our own bowl that's causing a problem. Apparently, we missed all the trick or treaters while we were out! After making myself physically ill a few days back, I decided that something must be done. I separated all the crap that tempts me from all the crap that doesn't. The crap that doesn't is for the kids - 2 pieces per day. All the yummy stuff (Areo Bars, Kit Kats, Coffee Crisp, Peanut M & M's, Hershey Bars etc.) was then unwrapped and cut up into chunks:

Then, I made my new favourite cookie recipe and added the bowl of Halloween junk instead of chocolate chips!

New Favourite Cookie Recipe?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1 Cup White Sugar (I used 1/2 cup Agave Syrup)

1/2 Cup Oil (I prefer Olive)

1 Egg

1 tbsp Vanilla

2 Cups All Purpose Flour (I use all whole wheat)

2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinnamon (Epicure Apple Pie Spice is yummy!)

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 Cups Chocolate Chips (Wow! That's a lot of chocolate! I use about 3/4 Cup - And in this case, Halloween Candy)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla and egg in electric mixer.

Add dry ingr to wet, mix till combined.

Add chocolate.

Bake at 350F for 10 mins (Mine usually need a few minutes longer when I use the syrup - about 15)

Yum!

The kids have no idea they're eating whole grains mixed with vegetable!!!

Seriously, we've eaten these babies for breakfast as we're running out the door. Zero guilt here!

Awesome!

Low Carb Camping Chili

Every year my family goes camping for Father's day and every year I make chili in advance for us to have for dinner. It's delicious. But this year I had to make some changes to make it suit my new low carb, healthy eating. It's delicious, so I thought I would share. I made up this recipe, adapted from years of making chili.

 I brown some ground turkey with a little olive oil, chili powder, cumin and chipotle chili spice (my kids won't eat the chili so I can make it spicy).  Then I add peppers, carrots, one can of kidney beans and let it all cook together.

At the same time I caramelize some onions in olive oil with sugar and a little nutmeg. Trust me, it's worth using the sugar. I use one onion and 1 Tbsp of sugar.

 My tomatoes and beans of choice. Normally I use 3 different types of beans but to cut down on the carbs, I only used one can of kidney beans. Eden Organic brand has no added salt so super low in sodium.

 After the onions are done, I add them to the turkey mixture and I add a little more olive oil to the pan and cook up the mushroom. Mushrooms are always better when cooked before adding to the chili.

Look how colourful it is.

Then I add my tomatoes and one can of tomato paste and viola, chili. I continually check the flavour and add more cumin and chili powder, if it needs it. If you like lots of spice, you could add hot sauce too. It's super thick but thins out after I have to cool and reheat it while camping. It's always so much better on the second day.

Cauliflower Pile Up

This one's a gooder. Tonight we had a pile up, which normally I would make with potatoes but tonight I made it with cauliflower (you know, the no/low carb thing). So yum.

I sauteed mennonite sausage, onions, yellow and red peppers, corn (just a little), mushrooms and tomatoes (added at the end). I added cumin and a little chili powder for extra flavour.

I also boiled up some cauliflower till it was soft, mashed it with a teaspoon of sour cream and some onion dip mix (Epicure of course).

I threw the mashed cauliflower into a bowl, topped with the sausage/veggie mix, and then threw on some cheese (just a little for me - the picture is Leigh's dinner). I also added some avocado on top. You could top it with fresh cilantro or sour cream or salsa as well.

So yummy and my serving was less than 500 calories.

Killer Salad!

Nom nom nom!
Mixed greens, grape tomatoes, mixed peppers, avocado, hard boiled egg and chicken cooked in Franks Red Hot Sauce.
Fast, easy, nutritious and oh so delicious!
Nom nom nom!

Dinner - Copy & Paste Sara's dinner - Done

Sara: "What are you going to make for dinner tonight?"
Kelsey: "I have no idea, you?
Sara: "I'm doing pork."
Kelsey: "That's a good idea."
~End of conversation~
Result? Basically the same dinner.
<--- Asian Pork with salad!
Everyone else had noodles, I had spaghetti squash for my "noodles".
Yum yum yum!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup lite soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 (2 lb)  fat-trimmed pork tenderloin

Mix 1st 6 ingr, marinate pork for 8 hours (Ya right...didn't marinate at all...) Brown pork in hot pan on all sides. Bake at 400F for 20 mins (ish!) - Bake till internal temp reaches 160 F. Slice it up and enjoy!! Again Yum yum yum!!

Healthy Asian cooking

Tonight's dinner.

 This is what my family ate. Pork tenderloin with veggies and noodles. All cooked in Asian 5 spice, soy sauce (or Bragg's) and ginger. Topped with sesame seeds and chopped green onions.

This is what I ate. Same as above without the noodles. I bought pre-chopped broccoli and carrots and cooked those with more carrots and peppers. The sliced broccoli made it feel like I was eating noodles, but without the carbs.

Yummy.

Healthy healthy

These are not very exciting posts but seriously, my dinner tonight was delicious, simple and healthy. Love it.

Tonight was frittata (I promise it's there, under all the yummy goodness). I made a bell pepper and mennonite sausage frittata. I used three full eggs and two egg whites, sausage ( I prefer mennonite sausage - it's lower in fat and so delicious when it's fried up), 3 colour bell pepper and a tiny bit of shredded cheese. It took all of 10 minutes to make. I served it with diced avocados and cilantro on top. YUM.

And of course, I served it with a salad because we can never have enough vegetables.

Eating well

For June, Kelsey and I have pledged to lose weight and get healthy (we have some specific goals). I've been doing this since January but have hit a plateau so I need to step it up. As a result, our dinners are not terribly fascinating, but there are still delicious so I thought I would share tonight's healthy dinner:

-Grilled veggies (done on the barbecue)
-salad (always and delicious)
-barbecued chicken with an avocado and tomato salsa on top (avocado, tomato, lemon juice and cilantro)
-my boys also had homemade tzatzki and whole wheat pita (I am abstaining from carbs at dinner)

Delicious, healthy, low calorie and low carb. Perfect.

Why do I enjoy making bags so much!?

Probably cause they're fast and satisfying.

Apple Tree
Jordan's teacher might get this one.

Brown Cord Sac

What next?

Barbecue and Corn

 Another dinner worthy of sharing.

I marinated prawns in lime juice, cilantro and peanuts then barbecued them.

I also roasted veggies again (apparently I'm in love with roasted veggies).

Warning: fried food ahead.

I made corn fritters. So yummy. 3 cups frozen corn, 2 eggs, about 1/3 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of cornmeal, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and salt and pepper. Dropped into some hot oil and perfection.

I always follow directions the first time I make something but next time I'm going to try to cook these without the oil (either bake them or just in a non-stick).

I served it all together with some homemade chipotle mayo for some added spice.

A Birthday Blanket

It was my mother in law's birthday recently. Along with a kid made stepping stone for the garden, I made her this rag blanket. I took the kids to Fabricland with me (I know, crazy...) so they could help pick out some of the fabrics. Can you tell? Some of the patches are from the receiving blankets that she made for my kids. All of my babies have been wrapped in them. The receiving blankets are still big enough to use for another baby! When I'm done swaddling all my little ones, I'll make myself a similar blanket and even incorporate some of their t-shirts. Rag blankets are the best. Super cozy and warm.

Spring Dinner

 Tonight's dinner was roasted veggies - done in a basket on the barbecue. Just lightly tossed in olive oil before roasting them.

Delicious.

 Fresh from the oven foccacia bread. I used this recipe but substituted half the flour with whole wheat flour.

Again, delicious.

I served it all together with some chicken and salad (the chicken was left over, reheated and tossed in barbecue sauce then served on top of the salad).

Perfection and everyone loved it.

Another awesome bag

 I combined the fun felt flowers with a lined tote bag and came up with this. So cute.

 Close up of the flower and applique.

And again, I found bright, obnoxious fabric for the liner.

This is a basic tote bag (see posts below for more info) with the added felt flower (also see post below).

Dress for a little princess

 One of my little princesses turned 1 this month so I made her a little dress.

 I added a little heart applique

And lined it with the best grandma floral fabric I could find.

I used this tutorial to make the dress.

So cute.

Taco Tuesdays

Every Tuesday we have tacos. My boys love them and they're easy and it's one less meal I have to plan or think about. What our tacos look like varies from week to week.

This week was homemade tortillas. I just bought a tortilla press (see the first picture) and so we made corn tortillas and then we stuffed them with chicken, corn and black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole and salsa. My family is off dairy for the moment so we without cheese. But we didn't miss it. It was a perfect meal and the kids ate everything. So delicious.

 (the press is from Epicure, the recipe is masa harina - corn flour - with water. so super easy.)

Headbands and hair clips

I made a couple extra mother's day gifts for some friends. Lovely felt flowers on headbands and hair clips

I stole the idea from two different sites:
Mrs. Priss 
Oh My Handmade Goodness

 I won't even begin to explain how I made them, just check out the awesome tutorials above. I adapted them by using the base layer from Oh My Handmade Goodness and adding a second layer like on Mrs. Priss.

 I glued and sewed to make them durable and then added a lovely button. The blue flower is on a headband.

(this is my youngest son, modeling the hairband for you)

The pink flower is on a hair clip

Shorts

Old jersey bed sheet + scissors, elastic and thread = new shorts.

Diaper Pouch

I needed something to throw a couple of cloth diapers and a pack of wipes into. Something I could just leave in my van. Currently, we're using some ugly, ripped, plastic thing. Not cool. With some of the scraps from the bag of scraps I found at a quilting shop yesterday, I threw this together. Simple, not to big, small Velcro closure on top, loop handle. Perfect. I'm looking forward to doing something else with these scraps in kinda the same way. Maybe an "I Spy" blanket or something. There are lots more prints in my bag of scraps, but I was tired of cutting, so I just started sewing.

Waste not, want not

Kay, I think I've got a few pretty sweet tips here....or maybe everyone already does these and I just think I'm something special? I'm hoping for lots of comments on what you do to save your pennies. I love a deal. I love feeling like I got something for free or cheap. I love using scraps or what could have been tossed in the trash, to make something new and awesome.

I'm new at this and still looking for super great ideas. (Apparently I only realized recently that...well, um...I'm broke!) Haha! Not really, but I do need to tighten the reigns and be careful. There are a lot of mouths to feed around here!

Tip #1: CRUSTS!!

My kids won't eat 'em. I've tried to force it. It's not worth the battle. My Papa always used to say that it'd put hair on my chest. Not sure how that was supposed to make me actually want to eat them. Anyway, I hate throwing them out and the thought of me having a plate of crusts for lunch isn't too appealing. Yes, you could save them for bread pudding (ew) or croutons, that's good idea....but what if they already have PB&J on them!? I found these totally awesome sandwich cutters. We have dinos and a train one. They cut the sandwich in half, cut the crusts off and make fun shapes which is always helpful for the actual consumption of lunch.

So after preparing 2 or 3 PB&J's, I have a pile of crusts. I chop 'em up into cubes and throw them into a bowl with 2 beaten eggs and a bit of milk.

Mix it up, let it sit for a couple of minutes....

....plomp it into a hot pan, fry it up...flip...Mmmmmm

Peanut Butter and Jam french toast!!

Or, you could just throw all the crusts in the garbage...whatever...But my idea's better, just sayin'.

Tip #2: CEREAL DUST!!

You know what I'm talking about. All the crumbs and dust at the bottom of the cereal bag - or the bottom of the Tupperware modular mate at our house. All that dust used to be perfect little pieces of crunchy cereal! Poor little Cheerios aren't so cheery anymore...helpless little Mini Wheat squares are square no more - or are they rectangle. Anyway, don't throw them out! Give them new life!!

Here's what I do:

Muffins are a daily thing in our house. Seriously, I make a tray of mini muffins almost every afternoon and they're gone by bed time.

My basic recipe is:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups slow cooking oats

4 tsp baking powder (Um..costco!! 2 for the price of 1 at the grocery store)

1 1/4 cups milk (I use powdered milk [to save $!] in most of my baking)

1 egg

1/2 cup not firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

unmeasured amount of cereal dust

If I feel like adding something extra I add:

Chocolate chips or

mushed banana or

cinnamon or

frozen berries or?...

I don't really have much of a method....just throw everything in the mixer and turn it on. (My Grandma is gasping in horror.)

Then I bake at 375F for about 15 mins or till golden and beautiful.

Sometimes, when the kids say, "Mom, can you make a cake?", I throw this same recipe into a 9x13 instead of muffin tins and just bake a little longer.









Tip #3: FREEZE IT

Kay so I guess this one isn't about not wasting...it's about saving.
To save a few bucks (doesn't take long to add up) I buy huge cans at Costco instead of a bunch of little cans from the grocery store and freeze. I can usually get a case of 12 small cans for about $13...or I can get a giant can for $3.49...that works out to be about 6-ish cans. When the tomatoes are frozen, I pop them out of my containers and store in a Ziploc freezer bag. I do this with diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes and pineapple.

More tips to come....Can't wait to read yours!!